20 June 2012, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - "Acre Day", held yesterday at the Botanical Garden in Rio de Janeiro, was a special celebration of the launch of the state policy for the Acre and Madeira Rivers basin. Minister of Environment of Italy, Corrado Clini, and UNITAR Executive Director Carlos Lopes were invited as guests of honour to join the ceremony led by the Governor of the Acre State Tião Viana. More than 150 people attended the launch.

Acre and Madeira are two affluent rivers of the Amazon close to the border with Bolivia and Peru. The Acre state plan for water resources management reaches out to more than 2,300 people in the region. It has started being implemented and more than 200,000 trees have already been planted.

In his address, UNITAR Executive Director noted that Acre has a long standing tradition of being a step ahead on sustainable development policies, and sets a good example for other regions in the world. He also added in this context that it was very important that the Acre region could share its best practices and experiences at the Rio+20 Summit.

On the occasion of this launch, it was also announced that the Acre State will partner with the Forestry Department of the Saba region (Malaysia) in the area of forest management. This new partnership is supported by WWF-Brazil.

Acre is known as one the Amazon states with the most advanced sustainable policies. The well renowned Chico Mendes, a fighter for the rights of Amazonians, was from Acre.